The problem is that 99.9999% of the people who receive remittances with bitcoin are going to trade it immediately for their own country's currency.
And that's where the fees get to be almost as bad as all the other remittance services. So what's the point of remitting with bitcoin if the exchanges are charging the same amount in fees as moneygram, western union, xoom, etc.?
And buying bitcoins is not cheap either. Sellers on localbitcoins.com have very high rates. Buying online is expensive because there are fees for bank wire, or EgoPay, OKPay, etc.
So that's the problem. Sending bitcoin is cheap, buying with bitcoin is cheap, recieving payment with bitcoin is cheap, trading bitcoin into another crypto is cheap. But trading national currency for bitcoin or bitcoin for your country's currency is NOT CHEAP.
I'm sure it'll be cheaper than what the banks or wire services currently charge and that's all it needs to do.
No that's wrong. It's not cheaper than some remittance services. And even if was a little cheaper, and cheaper than the banks or wires, how long do you think that will last. Once using bitcoin gets popular for remittances and becomes the preferred remittance method, the fees will shoot up to the same amount as their former competitors, maybe higher. That's business.
It might have little benefit atm but think in terms of mass adoption, where merchants begin accepting it. It's just like cars, light bulbs or email when they first came out. It's only through adoption that it becomes more efficient, for many different reasons.